Child Marriages

OUR society seems to have been obsessed for long with the idea of matrimony. Mercifully, the growing trend towards female education has to an extent weakened this obsession — but not in communities still deprived of the benefits of education and enlightenment.

In these underprivileged classes, which constitute the majority, it is a common practice for mothers to start planning their child’s marriage soon after birth. They informally decide who will be whose life partner. Termed ‘baat pukki karna’, the arrangement is irrevocable. The girl’s mother even starts collecting her daughter’s jahez. Obscurantist parents even consider it a sin if the child is not married before puberty.

These ridiculous beliefs that shape society’s thinking also harm the country as they lead to a higher population growth rate, an increased infant mortality rate and poor reproductive health of women. The WHO has issued numerous edicts that identify the ill effects of early marriages and childbirth on the health of the mother and her child.